Snape's Story
by HarryPotterIsMyHomeBoy
Summary: UPDATED! When Harry must practice Occlumency with Snape he catches glimpses of Snape's memories. Here is the full story. (OotP Spoilers)!
1. Start of Term Greetings

Disclaimer: I do not own any of JK Rowling's characters in this story.  
  
**Snape's Story**  
  
'A greasy haired teenager sat alone in a dark bedroom, pointing his wand at the

ceiling, shooting down flies...' The small bedroom slowly became darker. The boy

sighed and rolled over on his creaking bed, dropping his wand to the dusty floor with

a clatter.

Grey early morning light peaked into the room from a small window, illuminating

a desk strewn with bits of parchment, a broken quill, and a few old books. Against one

wall adjacent to the window was an old cot with thin faded threadbare sheets. A

teenage boy lay facedown on the bed, snoring softly. A loud hooting woke the hook-

nosed teenager with a jolt. He looked around for the source of the noise, spotting a

brown barn owl perched on the windowsill, and swiftly crossed the room towards it.

For a few seconds the boy struggled with the sticking window, his thin arms pushing

feebly against it, but he eventually opened it wide enough to admit the owl. He took

the letter from the bird's beak, then watched it flutter out the open window. A thick

parchment envelope was addressed in green ink to 'Mr Severus Snape.' Severus pried

off a wax seal bearing the Hogwarts crest and pulled out two sheets of parchment.

The first, the usual start of term greeting, he laid aside on his desk, scanning the other

paper, his booklist.

6th year students will require:  
  
_The Standard Book of Spells (Grade 6)  
_ by Miranda Goshawk  
  
_An Advanced Guide to Transfiguration_  
by Emeric Switch  
  
_Curse and Counter Curse: The Practical Uses of Defensive Magic_  
by Voricia Hex  
  
Severus folded the parchment and put it in the pocket of his jeans. Slowly he

opened the bedroom door. He silently crept down the narrow hallway and glanced

down the winding staircase. A sallow-skinned woman sat at a scrubbed wooden table,

staring into a deep tankard. Her mousy hair clung to her head and neck; her frail body

slumped in a large chair. From the top of the stairs Severus let out a soft sigh. He

walked carelessly down the stairs to his mother, stopping to peer into her sunken

face.

'Where's father?' He asked slowly.

His mother looked up from her tankard as though just spotting her only son.

'A-at the store,' she said in barely a whisper, returning to look into the tankard.

'School list came,' he announced shortly.

'Better go to Di-diagon Alley, then.' Still staring into the fathomless depths of

the tankard, Araminta Snape pointed to a silver box on the mantelpiece. Severus

grabbed the empty tankard and groaning lowly, put it in the sink.

'Mum, you have to stop,' he said, almost helplessly. Araminta continued to look

intently at the spot where the tankard had been.

Severus turned on his heel and walked to a large stone fireplace, carved in the

shape of a fanged serpent's head. He took a pinch of powder from the silver box and

stepped into the empty grate.

'Diagon Alley!' He yelled, letting the floo powder fall from his hand and burst

into emerald green flames, rushing him off in a whirl of fire.

Diagon Alley was packed with the usual weekend shoppers and those shopping

for school supplies. Having climbed out of the fireplace and brushed the soot from

his clothes, Severus Snape now stood blinking in the bright morning sunlight. He

watched a group of boys his age pass him laughing and licking large ice creams. What

he would do to be one of them, not a care to his name.

Bowing his head, Severus trudged up the cobblestone street to a dark alley,

which he turned onto. At the end of the alley he came to a street scarcely wider and

no brighter than the one he was on. He turned left and walked, shoulders hunched and

head down to a tiny shop. Stepping inside, the shop seemed to be larger inside than it

had appeared from the street. The store was crammed with old books. The bookcases

were of all different sizes, some reaching to the ceiling and some only knee high. A

cabinet stood against one wall, with a sign that said 'Highly Dangerous Books.

'TOUCH AT YOUR OWN RISK.' The gloom in the shop was no lighter than the street

outside.

Severus looked around and spotted a tall hook-nosed man standing with a

stooped old woman, pointing to a dusty book on the bookcase in front of him.

Making his way slowly towards the man, Severus was distracted by a book on display

on the top of a bookcase. Stepping closer, Severus could make out a diagram on the

cover. Slowly, the man in the diagram sprouted hair on his face, arms, and legs, his

body twisting and his back rounding so that he was crouching. Suddenly, Severus felt

a strong, cool hand on the back of his neck. A shiver passed through his body. The

hand tightened, fingers digging into his skin. The picture blurred in front of him as

tears of pain welled up his eyes.

'What are you doing here?' A cold voice whispered in his ear. Severus was

pushed hard into the bookcase as the hand was removed, scratching his neck with long

sharp fingernails. Severus stood up, feeling the tightness of his lungs and the

throbbing pain in his side where the corner of a book had been thrust into him, and

faced his father.

'I need school books,' he replied defiantly, angry at himself that he could not

make eye contact with his father, and instead was staring at his eyebrows.

'Well I guess it's just too bad that you don't have any money,' his father said with

a sneer.

'That's why I came here. I need money from you for my books. Or I could just

steal them,' finally Severus met his father's steely gaze.

'What did you say boy? I will not have you disgracing the family name! You

already bring me enough shame as it is!' Again the man used a deafening whisper,

'Here!' He dropped eight Sickles and four Knuts in Severus's outstretched hand,

grabbing his wrist tightly.

'And I expect change,' he whispered between his teeth.

Severus quickly turned and left his father's store, thinking he should have come

to his father later in day so that he would have had more change to give him. He had

barely given him enough for frogspawn. Sighing he rounded the corner to Diagon

Alley and turned in the direction of a second-hand bookshop at the far end of the

alley.

Severus walked through the door and breathed in the instant smell of musty

moldy old books. He approached the counter and cleared his throat loudly. An old

woman bustled towards him. She was very plump, and wore a patchwork dress with a

faded dirty white apron on top. Her hair was white and frizzy, and was pulled into an

untidy bun. Upon spotting Severus her old wrinkled face broke into a smile, and she

kindly asked what he needed. Severus produced his booklist and handed it to her

wordlessly, feeling uncomfortable and a bit annoyed with her polite gestures. She

told him it would only take a minute and started puttering around grabbing books of

mismatched lopsided shelves.

'Randal, do we have any copies of "Curse and Counter Curse"?' She called back

into a room separated by frayed sheet across the doorway. A skinny old man

emerged, wearing an old black cloak that hung off his tired, worn frame like a large

sack. He checked a few bookcases, looked hard at Severus, then replied, 'T'appears

not.'

'I'm sorry dear, I've got your other books though.'

'Thanks.' Mumbling, Severus removed a few coins and handed them to the old

woman, and quickly left the store. He knew he would have to go to Flourish and Blots

for his Defense against the Darks arts book, and he made his way there in growing

trepidation.


	2. Diagon Alley

**Chapter 2** -

Severus walked slowly back up Diagon Alley. He knew Flourish and Blotts would

be crowded, and he hoped to prolong the moment until he would enter the shop.

Finally he looked up into the glaring sun shining on the swinging bookshop sign.

Sighing, he opened the glass door and edged his way through the growing swarm of

witches and wizards. Severus found the section marked 'Hogwarts Readings' and

squeezed towards the 6th year shelves. There he saw two boys in his house and a few

giggling girls he knew by site but not name. Keeping his head lowered, he grabbed a

copy of '_Curse and Counter Curse_' and started pushing his way in the direction of the

cash register desk. A harassed looking man with a sweating brow and dangling round

glasses stood at the desk arguing with a large witch about the price of a copy of '_Love _

_Potions for Hopeless People: A Guide to Finding Your Perfect Match for the Less-_

_Fortunate Among Us_'. Severus searched the line for the end, eventually seeing it near

the front doors. He made his way there, cursing the second-hand shop for not having

his book.

Suddenly he felt a sharp pain in his back and he gasped, falling sprawled on the

floor. A pile of books fell from the arms of the man in line in front of him.

'...rough-housing in a bookshop! Really!' Grumbling, the man stooped and

picked up his books.

Severus stood up and looked behind him. A grinning face disappeared behind a

bookcase. He recognized that face. Placing 'Curse and Counter Curse' in the bag

from the other shop, Severus stepped out of line and ran behind the bookcase where

he had seen the boy, pulling his wand from his pocket. Sirius Black stood leaning

against the shelves in a nonchalant but evidently pleased way. He was grinning from

ear to ear.

'Hello Snivellus. Fancy seeing you here, I thought you shopped in that store

down the street, what's it called?' Sirius screwed up his eye's in mock confusion,

'Oh, yeah. Second Read.' He waited for the Severus to respond with a sardonic smile.

'Yeah, fancy seeing you out of detention. How many points did you lose at the

end of last year?' Severus knew he had hit a nerve. The smile slid off of Sirius' face

and a cold expression replaced it. His hand went to the wand sticking out of his back

pocket.

'Say that again, Snivellus,' his voice barely a whisper.

'Yeah, what did you do? Oh I remember! Something about an exploding toilet?

Yeah, what a Howler! How many points was it? I guess I should say thanks. Without

your 'antics' we wouldn't have won the house cup.'

'_Expelliarmus_!' Sirius yelled, and Severus was thrown backwards into a

bookcase, causing books to tumble down upon him. He quickly got to his feet,

wincing at the pain in his back. He spotted his wand laying a few feet away and lunged

for it. Just before he could grasp the handle however, another curse was aimed at him

and he was again thrown in the air, this time hitting a table laden with a display of

transfiguration books. Severus felt the stinging in his knees and as he touched them

he felt warm blood seeping through his ropes. The witches and wizards who had been

patiently waiting in line were now crowded around Severus, looking shocked and

angry. The manager hurried over with a look of pure fury making red his face. He

bustled over to Severus and started ranting at him.

'What do you think you are doing?' He started picking up the books strewn all

over the floor, 'Trying to do one of these spells? Or dueling I suppose!' The manager

placed the books in a stack on the table and stood up, grabbing the color of Severus'

robes.

'Get out of this shop! You won't be coming here again if I have anything to do

with it. Get out!'

Severus stood up trembling. He grabbed his wand and started out of the shop. As

he passed the place that Sirius had been moments before he saw no one. Rage filling

him once again he stalked out of the store not noticing the stares following him and

slammed the door on his way out.

Standing alone in the alley outside Flourish and Blotts Severus calmed a bit. He

then realized that he hadn't paid for '_Curse and Counter Curse'_ now residing in his bag.

He was too angry to go back and deposit his money, and instead he walked off in the

direction of the apothecary.

The apothecary was among Severus' favorite stores. He didn't like potion's class

at school particularly, the potions master was incredibly nasty, but potion making was

something that came quite naturally for Severus. He paid attention to even the

subtlest of details, which really helped in potions class.

Stepping into the apothecary he breathed in the pungent air, very unlike the

stuffy air of the second hand shop. The apothecary smelled of a mix of many potions

ingredients, a medley of the components that make up a good potion.

Severus headed towards a set of shelves that reached from the floor to the

ceiling laden with jars and bottles containing herbs and animal parts that were

essential to potion making. He ran his fingers along the labels underneath each jar

and eventually came across a small vial of powdered horn of bicorn. He gazed at it,

thinking of all its magical properties. It was a very useful ingredient in transfiguring

potions, but for fourteen sickles! Thinking he probably wouldn't be able to afford

anything in this store, Severus turned to leave.

'Like potions do you, boy?' Said a wheezy voice from the shadows. A small

hunched man stepped into the light, leaning on a twisted cane and looking inquiringly

up at Severus.

'Err, yes.'

'I have something I think you'll enjoy,' he walked to a bookshelf and took a large

book from one of the highest shelves. Dusting it off with the sleeve of his robes he

handed it to Severus. The leather cover was inscribed with gold lettering that read;

_Portable Potions: An Advanced Guide to Everyday Potion Making_, by Arsenius

Jigger.

'Thanks,' said Severus, gazing at the title, then he asked dreading the answer,

'How much is it?'

'Two Sickles.' Severus reached into his pocket and pulled out the remaining

money from his father. He found two Sickles and gave them to the man, feeling only

four Knuts remaining in his pocket. He decided to get a scoop of dried beetle root

for two Knuts and five dried salamander eyes for a Knut because he had almost ran

out of those ingredients last year. The store clerk placed each ingredient in a glass jar

and wrapped everything in brown paper. Severus put the parcel in his bag and walked

out of the store, feeling considerably better than he had moments before.

As he walked past Quality Quidditch Supplies someone shouted, 'Hey, Snivelly,

you going to try out for the Slytherin team this year? Maybe if you weren't such a

little slime ball you wouldn't slide off your broom so much!' As everybody laughed

Severus stopped walking, his shoulders tense. He slowly pulled his wand from his

pocket and turned to face the crowd.

There was Sirius, and next to him, was the boy who had spoken. He was the one

laughing the loudest, at the front of the pack, his black hair looking untidy and as if he

had just gotten off his broom. His wide smirk made something snap inside Severus,

who was trying to compose his anger and ignore him. His fingers were white on his

wand. He yelled the first curse he could think of and sent the boy to his knees in fits

of giggles. Sirius produced the counter-curse and the boy stood up, panting.

'Is that the best you can come up with?' He said between gasps. Severus, feeling

defeated and angry with himself turned away and walked quickly back up the street

amid gales of laughter. He arrived in Knockturn Alley, deftly turning into his fathers

shop and thrusting the change into his hand. Even his father's whispered screams for

the pitiful amount of change could not stir Severus from his stupor, and he just

nodded and left the store, making his way towards the fireplace at Borgan and Burkes.

He grabbed a handful of floo powder and before Mr Borgan could charge him for it

he was spinning towards home.

The single thought that penetrated Severus' preoccupied mind as he threw

himself onto his bed in his darkened room was his absolute loathing for James

Potter.


End file.
